Victims of Fate
by digitalnarcissus
Summary: A selection of oneshots in the point of view of various Lab Five characters. Includes Barry, Dorochet, the Slicer Bros., Martel, and Tucker. Rated T for language.
1. Bloodlust

Of course I would never claim any of the characters of Full Metal Alchemist as my own, but I have taken the liberty to portray how I believe they would think and feel at certain points in the anime. Please enjoy.

Chapter I: Blood-lust

"_Kill! Smile! Cut it out for me this time!  
Smile, haven't seen him smile in a little while…"_

_("Sound Effects & Overdramatics"—The Used)_

Maybe you've heard of me before, and maybe you haven't. Well, I guess if you _have_ heard of me, you'd know me by one of my two names. Before—before all this happened—people on the street used to call me "Barry The Chopper," though no one could associate my face with that name. But let's think about this now, shall we? If people knew I was a serial killer that derived pleasure from chopping beautiful women into pieces, I don't think they'd be coming over to my house asking for a cup of sugar… especially since my first victim was my own wife. How could I be so inhuman, you ask? Well… I didn't like her that much in the first place.

So here I am now, my soul sealed inside a skull-faced suit of armor, leaning up against this cold metallic wall and trying to sort out what remains of my life. Not that I can feel anything anymore, but human memories die hard. Can you even call my memories human? Maybe… but my feelings are a different story. The only thing that has ever given me joy is killing. Kinda demonic, right? Hey, all I'm saying is this—don't knock it until you've tried it. If I could live my life over again, I'd do _everything_ the same. It'd be worth it, too, 'cuz the only sensation worth living for is the one brought on by murder.

I kill, therefore I am.

Eventually, I even got used to this armored body of mine. In fact, more often than not, it comes in handy. Is the victim fighting back? Hell if I know—I couldn't feel it anyway. I do like to see them struggle, though. Seeing those poor saps fighting for their lives to the very last second reminds me of the life I left behind.

But enough of this palaver. I guess you're wondering what my second alias is, right? Well, let's just say eventually my killing spree was brutally ended. The military in Central eventually caught up with me, all because of that stupid little runt-kid and his pretty little friend. I had them both imprisoned in my butcher's shop, and right as the game really started to get really good those damn military dogs were on me. I guess at that point I really started to feel afraid. Terrified, actually—if I was executed, I wouldn't be able to kill anymore.

I bet now you're wondering; 'how did good ol' Barry get to keep on truckin'?' Well, luck was with me again, and instead of getting executed I was sealed into this body and ordered to act as one of the guardians of the Fifth Laboratory. Easy labor, if you ask me. As long as I get to kill people, I could care less about what I look like. Now I'm referred to as 'Number 66,' which was my identification number when I was on death-row.

So I was happy for a little while. I killed anyone and everyone who tried to enter Lab Five; even some of the personnel… but we all make **_mistakes_**, don't we?

That's when my luck began to run out. The damn state alchemist runt who I mentioned early just HAD to come snooping around my territory, only this time with his kid brother who just happened to be sealed inside his own suit of armor and a crazy Ishbalan on their tails. Of course, I didn't know that at the time. Instead, I decided to personally introduce myself to the runt's brother—I swear, if the kid hadn't moved two inches more to the side, I would've gotten him right where it hurts. That's right… I'm talking about his blood seal; the beautiful gem of alchemy that can ground a soul into another form and keep it there. He and I had a long, hypothetical chat about the nature of life and alchemists in generally, and boy did I have fun messing with the kid's mind. Just when I was about to strike, that crazy Ishbalan came out of nowhere and tore my right arm clean away, bolts and all. I managed to escape, if only by detonating a bomb in the process and adding to the building chaos around the Fifth Laboratory. So I got away, and now I'm working with a band of mercenaries. Well, not really working, but you know what I mean. I've gotta do something with my spare time besides waiting for the next chance I meet up with the state alchemist brat, his armored brother, or that maniac Ishbalan.

I'd tear them all to pieces and savor every second.

Except for some reason… ever since that last encounter, killing just hasn't been as fun. I mean, don't get me wrong—I still adore it, but… whenever I get ready to plant the finishing move, I see _myself_ in my victim's eyes.

If I meet up any of those three again, will I be the victim?

If so, I'm going to go down screaming and still trying to tear out their god-forsaken eyes. And then… they can _all _meet me in Hell.

'Cuz you can bet your ass, I'll still be killing.


	2. Everlasting Loyalty

Chapter II: Everlasting Loyalty

"_I dedicate this song to the ones who don't belong...  
Unwanted  
To the ones who don't belong...  
I know who you are  
Hang on!  
We're never going home again…"_

_("Unwanted" – Kill Hannah)_

I guess this is the end, eh? Ah well… it was bound to come someday. Are you an angel? You don't look much like one… but hey, whether you are or not doesn't mean anything now. Just hear me out before I go. Listen to me—really hear what I say—so that everything I've ever done in this world wasn't in vain.

I used to be a normal young man; a normal soldier in a normal army fighting a normal war. Except, of course, nothing was really normal. Is punishing soldiers for their hard work normal? If I had known back then that, as a member of the Amestris Special Forces, I would be ordered along with the rest of my unit to completely destroy a particular Ishbal temple and murder everyone inside, I would have run for my goddamn life. Not only did we go through with the operation, but in order to keep us quiet, the good ol' Basque Gran himself ordered us all to be kept in the Fifth Laboratory. Well, I guess that in itself isn't too bad… but then they started to experiment on us; their own, loyal men! At first it was just simple questions and little tests, like "So how's your sense of smell doing lately?" or "I've been working on a more effective sample of aspirin, do you want to try it? Maybe it'll help your wounds feel better."

We were so blind; what they were doing was altering us—transforming us—into… _things_. One day you're human, one day you're part dog. I mean, it's not so bad, right? You still look like a normal human for the most part, except for the fact that your speed has grown to be wicked-amazing, you can suddenly smell someone's feet that are sitting more than fifty feet away from you, and your swordsmanship skills are top-notch. Yeah, it was all fine and dandy… except for the fact that I didn't feel like I belonged anymore. I couldn't just walk down the street and feel like I was a part of this world because, in essence, I wasn't anymore.

I belong to the strange and twisted world of alchemy now. If I just randomly walked into a city-street boutique and starting bragging that I was chimera, do you think people would've patted me on the back and congratulated me? Hell, no; if I was lucky they would just scream and run away. The normal folk don't know too much about us, except for the fact that we're all circus freaks; part human, part animal, with a dash of alchemy thrown into the mix.

But of course, that's exactly what the military did to us; they saw that we were successful and decided to just throw us out when we wouldn't completely submit to their bidding any longer. Luckily for us, that's when Greed showed up. You could say that he rescued us—he gave us a place to live with others of our kind… a place to belong. For that, I'll always be eternally grateful. Though Greed isn't widely known for his kindness, that one kind act towards us gave me a reason to live and a purpose to serve. I became devoted to serving Greed and protecting the Devil's Nest from prying eyes. The eyes of contempt possessed by the military, if you will. Or so we thought.

Of course, happiness is only short-lived, as I'm sure you know. Being a Homunculi—a created non-human, I believe—Greed was a natural target for those of his kind. _Other_ Homunculi. I've never understood why Greed's own kind would have it out for him, and I guess now I'll never know. Anyway, the mission was simple and painfully clear; make sure Greed has a safe passage to the one called Dante. Fight anyone who gets in your way… even those that aren't exactly human. Even those that can tear you to pieces with knife-like fingernails.

So that's what I did. Good ol' Dorochet. Loyal to the end, just like your average pet dog.

Oddly enough, I don't really feel any regret. I just hope Greed managed to escape without harm, because if not… well, I'd be dying without a real purpose, like those Ishbalans I killed in that temple way back when. What they say about karma is so true; what goes around will come around, most likely to bite you square in the ass.

I also hope that Greed didn't really regard us as his servants; his stupidly loyal and expendable followers. Because, deep down inside… I hoped I was more than that. I wanted to be more than that. I wanted to be respected as an individual and not just as a successful but freakish science experiment.

I hope, with all my inhuman heart, that Greed respected me as I did him.

Because now, as I lay here dying, I confess that… that one hope was all I ever had to live for.


	3. Connected

Chapter III: Connected

"_So I let go, watching you turn your back like you always do.  
Face away and pretend that I'm not,  
But I'll be here 'cause you're all that I got."_

_("Faint" – Linkin Park)_

I never got to say good-bye to my younger brother, though we both had decided that death was far better than the lives—excuse me, _life_—we were living. Blown into two separate pieces by Edward Elric, we had come to realize that truth. When he took his own life, I felt a little bit of myself die with him. My brother was the most important thing I had in my life… though I'd never be able to admit it to his face. I hope he has his own body in the after-life, though. I liked it much better when we were two separate beings.

I guess since we were serial killers doomed to a fate of execution, the plausibility of being granted another chance at life sounded just too good to be true. Yet… we both jumped at the chance anyway. Two separate beings then were fused into one: Number 48, assigned with the sole duty of guarding the Fifth Laboratory.

It's a shame that my brother and I never valued life until it was too late. In fact, we got our kicks with picking out random saps on the street, stalking them, and murdering them in cold blood. After the deed was done, we'd go down to the nearest pub and drink until the bar-keep threw us out on our backsides. Yes, those were the days. We didn't have a care in the world until one day my brother, in a drunken rage, starting screaming at anyone who would listen that he would kill them all—oh yes, he had killed before, alright—and cut them all into unidentifiable pieces. Of course, neither of us noticed the military officers sitting in the corner either until it was too late. I remember them both clearly—one was a young-looking man with square-rimmed glasses and facial hair, and the other was a wickedly tall, muscular man of unintelligible age. The younger one eventually got up from the table, flanked by the muscular guy, and told me that he was going to send out a unit to investigate my brother's little "claims." Then he flashed me a coy little smile… and left.

So, naturally, we were caught red-handed. A group of about four soldiers raided our house later that night and we were immediately locked up in prison.

A couple of days before our executions were scheduled, a group of scientists—or were they alchemists?—came to my brother and I and asked us if we, in an attempt to evade our executions, would like to be the center of an experiment that would probably allow us both to live. Foolishly and unthinkingly, we agreed. Later that night, we became one being. Fused into a suit of armor, my younger brother took charge of the body and I took charge of the head. It was only natural—I had always been the smarter one anyway. And so we were commanded to patrol the Fifth Laboratory; the _very_ place where we had been experimented on, until the day they didn't need us anymore.

That's where Edward Elric steps into the picture. When he took it upon himself to crawl through the vents of the Fifth Laboratory, we were there to meet him when he came out. The battle we had was fairly pathetic—it ended with him slicing our head off, which basically means my brother and I came apart for the first time in months. So, not seeing a point in living anymore, we tried to convince him to kill us.

Best deep and hypothetic conversation I've had in years, let me tell you.

To keep a long story short, Edward refused to kill us and my brother decided that enough was enough. Before I even had a chance to get a word in otherwise, my brother cried out that he was going to go ahead into the unknown and meet me later in the after-life.

And with that he took his own life, smashing the blood seal that connected his soul to the body of the armor. Furious, I went into a rage, although there's not much you can do when you're just a head.

Lacking a purpose in life, I agreed to take Edward to what he had been searching for all along… the Philosopher's Stone. It's the least I could've done in punishment for all the poor souls my brother and I had killed throughout our lives.

Oddly enough, I'm strangely calm now. I have an inexplicable feeling that I'll be able to see my brother again soon.


	4. Fighting Poison

Chapter IV: Fighting Poison

"_Don't count on me, to let you know when.  
Don't count on me, I'll do it again.  
Don't count on me, it's the point you're missing.  
Don't count on me, 'cuz I'm not listening!"_

_("Fat Lip" – Sum 41)_

Sometimes it seemed like everything was out to get me. The military, for one, and every Homunculi other than Greed-sama, for sure… and then… sometimes it just seemed like the world as a whole had it in for me. To laugh and spit at my face until all I could do was lie down on the ground and curl myself up into a ball, crying my eyes out like the super-sensitive little girl I once was. Still am, so it feels. It's like that little aspect of my personality never left, although you'd never see me show it. There are just some parts of me that no one needs to see.

I've always hated how life was never fair. Ever since I was the crying little girl of my past, nothing seemed to make sense. How could parents scorn their own children? How could the military betray its' own soldiers? How could a member of a close-knit 'organization' betray everyone else at the tip of a hat? Kimblee. If I ever see him again I… well, what I want to do is kick his betraying ass, but… there's some questions I want answered first.

Sadly enough, even Kimblee's betrayal of the Devil's Nest didn't affect me as much as I thought it would. It's weird… nothing really affects me much anymore. Ever since I was transmuted into a chimera—fused with a snake, to be exact—my emotions have become rather dull. All I really feel is a faint sense of anger, but other than that, I'm not really that easy to faze. I keep my cool, and that's how I gained so much respect from Greed-sama and Dorochet… and all of the other chimeras, of course.

I miss them all so much it hurts sometimes. They were like a second family to me.

I miss the way Dorochet used to show off his swordsmanship skills when we were all bored, and how Loa used to smash things with his hammer when he got really mad. I miss how Bido used to climb up on to the ceiling and try to scare me when I walked into the room, and… I miss how Greed-sama made me feel almost human again. He rescued all of us chimeras, and I am eternally grateful for that. He's the only person I've referred to as –sama for a long time.

What's the point of killing? For that matter, what's the point of life when you know someone's either going to kill you or you're going to die some other horrible way? And why do some people feel the need to experiment on others? Are they better than we are? Am I somehow so inferior that they feel the need to bind me, body and soul, with an animal of their choosing? Dorochet was bonded with a dog, Loa with an ox, and Bido with a lizard. I was bonded with a snake. Does it help to mention that I absolutely _abhorred_ snakes when I was little? Couldn't stand them. Now I've been forced to form a weary acceptance of them. I mean, I can't just go and rip out the snake parts of me, though I often wish I could. The purple markings on the right side of my face and right shoulder are painful reminders of the things I can not change.

So, in short, people have been taking things from me my whole life. They took away my humanity… they took away my friends… they took away my hero… my home… and my happiness.

The sad thing is I'll never be able to get any of that back again. I could fight until I'm blown apart, I could kill until there was no one left in the world, but what would it achieve? Nothing. I can't bring my friends back, and no place is home without them there.

I am thankful for a couple of things, though. I'm thankful that I could form at least one more friendship—even with someone as unexpected as Alphonse Elric, though he freaks out when I don't call him Al like he asked me to. It's strange how much you can bond with someone when you plant yourself in their own body. Heh, poor Al… I can only imagine how that feels!

Sometimes I worry for Al, though. I worry that someone's going to take him away from me too. He's the last friend I have, and I don't want anything bad to happen to him. For being trapped in a suit of armor for committing an unforgivable sin, he's really not all that bad of a kid. His brother is a bit of a brat though, but he seems alright deep down as well. I hope those two find what they're looking for without losing even more than they've already lost in the process.

It really is surprising… how much can be taken from you at any given time.


	5. Regretless

Chapter V: Regretless

"_Another knife in my hands,  
A stain that never comes off the sheets.  
Clean me off,  
I'm so dirty babe.  
It ain't the money and it sure as hell ain't just for the fame,  
It's for the bodies I claim and lose."_

_("I Never Told You What I Do For A Living" – My Chemical Romance)_

No one understands what it's like to be a true scientist—a true _alchemist—_as I believe the two are both opposites and undeniably connected. To come closer to measuring the extent of the un-obtainable… to reaching out and brushing one's fingers against the flesh of truth… that, in all its glory, fuels my very being. A true alchemist never stops until his questions are answered—he never stops until his skills have been mastered. A true alchemist will sacrifice his life to finding the answers he seeks, never faltering until he achieves his mind's desires. Yet, for all that I have contributed to the world of alchemy… I am left without a wife, daughter, and human body. Desire is so cruel; when it sinks its claws into a man's mind, he will stop at nothing to smother its seemingly insatiable flames.

Yet… my life is perfect.

So what if I've been enslaved in this monstrous new body? It's nothing a trench-coat can't cover up, and one gets used to viewing the world from upside-down.

So what if I killed my wife and daughter in order to save my own career with the military? Any true alchemist would have done the same—the funds for one's research are as important as the air we all breathe. In any case, I can bring Nina back, and we'll be happy once more. I swear, even if I have to sacrifice what's left of my own soul… my Nina will come back to me, and she will be as perfect as she was before.

I was supposedly ordered to be executed for my "inhuman" experiments, but fortunately the military higher-ups realized just how powerful my research could one day become. With the bonus of continuing my own personal research on the side, I was given permission to continue various chimera-based experiments with the military. General Grand _himself_ expressed an interest in creating an army of super-soldiers—chimera soldiers—so if I'm "evil," what makes the military? You can not support evil without being evil yourself. And if I'm inhuman… well… it's not like I really care all that much. Honestly, I thought that whiny brat Edward Elric was going to spontaneously erupt into flames when he found out that I had used alchemy to transmute my Nina into a beautiful chimera. As if he had room to talk! I heard that he tried to bring his own _mother_ back from the dead—I'll bet he was surprised when all he got in return was a screaming mass of assorted body parts and his brother's fleeing soul. In essence, we're both exactly the same except for the fact that my experiments were far more successful. The boy was painfully ignorant; did he simply ignore the fact that in almost every alchemy book in the world there is a warning and explanation of the "unforgivable sins?"

It's a painful truth that you can not breathe life into the dead, however, as the Sewing Life Alchemist, I have discovered that creating something anew and making it better than it was before… is perfectly acceptable by the laws of alchemy.

Now all I can do is devote my life to making it work.

I swear on this damned soul; I will breathe a new life into a perfect new body for Nina...

…and we will live happily together again.

But for ever hard piece of truth I've found throughout my life…

…there is a lie that can not be explained.


End file.
